Invl Asset Management, a Lithuania-based asset management firm, completed the first closing of the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund, at €106m.
The closed-end private equity fund, intended for professional investors, was supported by the European Investment Fund (EIF), Estonia’s LHV pension funds, INVL pension funds and other financial and private investors.
The EIF, part of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group, which has committed to invest €30m, is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). It is committing ressources from the Baltic Innovation Fund, a Fund-of-Fund initiative launched with the Governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in order to boost equity investments made into Baltic small and medium businesses with high growth potential.
The second and final closing of the fund – led by Deimantė Korsakaitė, is scheduled in 2019, with the intention of reaching a target size of €200m.
The portfolio of INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund will comprise of 8-12 investments. The fund seeks to invest in medium-size companies with an attractive risk-return profile, providing them with capital for further growth.
In its investments, the vehicle will focus on controlling or significant minority stakes and will play an active role in the management of target companies, aiming to significantly increase their value over the long term.
The fund will make investments of €10 million to €30 million (or larger amounts with co-investors) in mature companies that can compete on global markets and have big potential for growth in value. Emphasis will be on transactions bigger than those that private equity players in the Baltic countries undertake, but smaller than those that interest the largest international private equity and strategic investors.
The fund will seek to form a diversified portfolio of the Baltic Sea region companies and will focus on growth capital, buyout, and “buy and build” investments. The foreseen life is 10 years from the initial closing.
FinSMEs
20/03/2019